The Beast (Bible) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Beast of Revelation, may refer to two beasts in the apocalyptic

Apocalypticism

Apocalypticism is the religious belief that there will be an apocalypse, a term which originally referred to a revelation of God's will, but now usually refers to belief that the world will come to an end time very soon, even within one's own lifetime...

visions by John of Patmos

John of Patmos

John of Patmos is the name given, in the Book of Revelation, as the author of the apocalyptic text that is traditionally cannonized in the New Testament...

, as written in the Book of Revelation

Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...

. The first beast comes from "out of the sea". The second beast comes from "out of the earth" and directs all peoples of the earth to worship the first. This first beast is initially mentioned in as coming out of the abyss

Abyss (religion)

Abyss refers to a bottomless pit, to the underworld, to the deepest ocean floor, or to hell.The English word "abyss" derives from the late Latin abyssimus through French abisme , hence the poetic form "abysm", with examples dating to 1616 and earlier to rhyme with "time"...

. His appearance is described in detail in and some of the mystery behind his appearance is revealed in . The Beast is aligned with The Dragon and The False Prophet; all three who can project demons into the world in order to gather kings for Armageddon

Armageddon

Armageddon is, according to the Bible, the site of a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or symbolic location...

Beast from the sea

The Beast comes out of the sea, from the abyss

Abyss (religion)

, where he is greeted by the Dragon at the shoreline. The Beast has the appearance of a male leopard having seven heads with blasphemous names written on them. All seven heads have at least one horn, but the number of horns is ten in all, each crowned with a diadem

Diadem

Diadem may refer to:*Diadem, a type of crown-Military:*HMS Diadem was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line in the Royal Navy launched in 1782 at Chatham and participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1787...

. The seven heads of the Beast represent seven kings who have kingdoms, and the ten horns are ten authority figures who are like kings but do not have kingdoms. The mouths of the Beast resemble that of a lion’s mouth and his feet are like bear paws.

Beast from the earth

The Beast from the sea is assisted by a second beast who comes out of the earth whose overall appearance is not described, other than having two horns like that of a lamb. His purpose is to promote the authority of the Beast with the ability of performing great signs, even making fire come down out of heaven. He also speaks like a dragon commanding the people of the Earth to make an image of the beast from the sea and to worship him. It is declared that anyone who does not worship the Beast or its image would be killed, even beheaded. The lamb-horned beast from the earth also ensures that everyone under this power bears the mark of the Beast on either the right hand or forehead.

Image of the Beast

Those who dwell on the Earth are deceived into making an image of the Beast as a means to worship his authority. It is the lamb-horned beast who breathes life into the "image of the beast", so that the image becomes alive and is able to speak. It also declares death to anyone who does not worship the authority of the Beast. Those who are killed for not conforming to the authority of the Beast are blessed through the "first resurrection" that allows them to rule in Christ's presence

Parousia

Parousia is an ancient Greek word meaning presence, arrival, or official visit.-Classical usage:# Physical presence, arrival – The main use is the physical presence of a person, which where that person is not already present refers to the prospect of the physical arrival of that person, especially...

as priests during the one thousand year reign

Millennialism

Millennialism , or chiliasm in Greek, is a belief held by some Christian denominations that there will be a Golden Age or Paradise on Earth in which "Christ will reign" for 1000 years prior to the final judgment and future eternal state...

. The Second Death has no power over these individuals who were victorious over the Beast by not being deceived, even though they lost their lives on Earth by his authority.

Mark of the Beast

The Beast from the sea also bears a name, but this name is not given anywhere in the book of Revelation. However, his name corresponds to a numerical value, that of the number 666

Number of the Beast

The Number of the Beast is a term in the Book of Revelation, of the New Testament, that is associated with the first Beast of Revelation chapter 13, the Beast of the sea. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible, the number of the Beast is...

. This number is associated with that of a man. The significance of the name of the Beast is that the people under his power must have it written on their right hand or forehead, thus bearing a mark. The "mark" can be identified by either the Beast's written name, or the numerical value of his name. Without this identification, one could not buy or sell.

Fate of the Beast

The Beast gathers the kings of the earth and their armies to prepare for war against He who sits on a white horse. The battle results in the Beast being seized, along with the False Prophet, where they are thrown alive into the lake of fire. Those against the "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS" are killed and left for the birds. In the lake of fire, the Beast and the False Prophet are tormented day and night forever and ever. The Dragon joins them a little more than a millennium

Millennium

A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....

later after the great war.

Preterist view

Preterist

Preterism

Preterism is a Christian eschatological view that interprets prophecies of the Bible, especially Daniel and Revelation, as events which have already happened in the first century A.D. Preterism holds that Ancient Israel finds its continuation or fulfillment in the Christian church at the...

interpretations, a theological position advocated by most academic scholars, generally identify the First Beast with Imperial Rome, particularly with Nero

Nero

Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....

.

These teachings hold that Nero

Nero

, the emperor at the time John was writing the book, is the sixth king "who is". Suetonius

Suetonius

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....

’ and Josephus'

Josephus

Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...

enumeration of the emperors was: Julius

Julius

The gens Julia was one of the most ancient patrician families at Ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the consulship was Gaius Julius Iulus in 489 BC...

, Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

, Tiberius

Tiberius

Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...

, Caligula

Caligula

Caligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...

, Claudius

Claudius

Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...

(the five kings who have fallen at the time that John is writing), Nero (one "who is"), and Galba

Galba

Galba , was Roman Emperor for seven months from 68 to 69. Galba was the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, and made a bid for the throne during the rebellion of Julius Vindex...

- one who "has not yet come, but when he does come, he must remain for a little while" - six months (Rev. 17:10). Moreover, Rome was known in antiquity as the city of seven hills

Seven hills

-Places that have seven hills:1.the Seven hills of Istanbul 2.the Seven hills of Rome 3.the Seven hills of Moscow 4.the Seven hills of San Francisco 5.the Seven hills of Seattle 6.the Seven hills of Iaşi...

(Rev. 13:1, Rev. 17:9) and Revelation was a warning about events that were "shortly" to take place (Rev. 1:1).

In Rev. 13:5-8, the Beast was given a mouth speaking in blasphemies against God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

and His Name. Inscriptions have been found in Ephesus

Ephesus

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...

in which Nero is called "Almighty God" and "Savior". In verse 4, the Beast is worshipped by the world alongside the Dragon that gave it Authority. Nero and Caligula

Caligula

"abandoned all reserve" in promoting emperor worship – they were the only two who demanded divine honors while still alive. Nero claimed to be the sun-god Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

.

Finally, the readers of Revelation were told to "calculate the number of the Beast

Number of the Beast

, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six" (Rev. 13:18). Since the Book of Revelation was written to a first-century audience, sometime in late 64 AD, John did not expect that his readers "who had understanding" to have any difficulty identifying the beast, since they could simply calculate the meaning of this cryptogram

Cryptogram

A cryptogram is a type of puzzle which consists of a short piece of encrypted text. Generally the cipher used to encrypt the text is simple enough that cryptogram can be solved by hand. Frequently used are substitution ciphers where each letter is replaced by a different letter or number. To solve...

. "Neron Kaisar" (the Greek

Greek alphabet

The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...

rendering, documented by archaeological finds), when transliterated into Hebrew נרון קסר (Nrwn Qsr) had a number of 666. The variant number 616 found in some manuscripts of the Greek text of Revelation may represent the alternative Hebrew spelling נרו קסר (Nrw Qsr) based on the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

form "Nero Caesar". The variant probably existed to keep consistent the meaning of Nero as the Beast.

Historicist view

Historicists

Historicism (Christian eschatology)

Historicism is a method of interpretation, in Christian eschatology, by associating biblical prophecies with actual historical events as well as identifying symbolic beings with historical persons or societies. In prophetic theology, the main texts of interest are apocalyptic literature such as the...

such as the Protestant Reformers and the modern Seventh-day Adventist Church

Seventh-day Adventist Church

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...

identify the first Beast with the Papacy. According to adherents of this view, the "image to the beast" represents Protestant churches which will form an alliance with the Papacy, and the "mark of the beast" refers to a future universal Sunday law. Some Adventists have interpreted the number of the beast

Number of the Beast

, 666

666 (number)

666 is the natural number following 665 and preceding 667.- In mathematics :666 is the sum of the first 36 natural numbers 666 (six hundred and sixty-six) is the natural number following 665 and preceding 667.- In mathematics :666 is the sum of the first 36 natural numbers 666 (six hundred and...

, as corresponding to the title Vicarius Filii Dei

Vicarius Filii Dei

Vicarius Filii Dei is a phrase first used in the forged medieval Donation of Constantine to refer to Saint Peter, a leader of the Early Christian Church and regarded as the first Pope by the Catholic Church...

of the Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

. In 1866, Uriah Smith

Uriah Smith

Uriah Smith was a Seventh-day Adventist author and editor who worked for the Review and Herald for 50 years....

was the first to propose the interpretation to the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Seventh-day Adventist Church

. See Review and Herald 28:196, November 20, 1866. In The United States in the Light of Prophecy he wrote

The pope wears upon his pontifical crown in jeweled letters, this title: "Vicarius Filii Dei," "Viceregent of the Son of God;" the numerical value of which title is just six hundred and sixty-six The most plausible supposition we have ever seen on this point is that here we find the number in question. It is the number of the beast, the papacy; it is the number of his name, for he adopts it as his distinctive title; it is the number of a man, for he who bears it is the "man of sin
Man of Sin
The Man of Sin or Man of Lawlessness is a figure referred to in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, who is usually equated with the Antichrist.-Second Thessalonians, Chapter Two:...

."

Prominent Adventist scholar J. N. Andrews also adopted this view. Uriah Smith maintained his interpretation in the various editions of Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation, which was influential in the church.

Various documents from the Vatican

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

do contain wording such as "Adorandi Dei Filii Vicarius, et Procurator quibus numen aeternum summam Ecclesiae sanctae dedit" Which as translated is "As the worshipful Son of God's Vicar and Caretaker, to whom the eternal divine will has given the highest rank of the holy Church".

Samuele Bacchiocchi

Samuele Bacchiocchi

Samuele R. Bacchiocchi was a Seventh-day Adventist author and theologian, best known for his work on the Sabbath in Christianity, particularly in the historical work From Sabbath to Sunday, based on his doctoral thesis from the Pontifical Gregorian University...

, an Adventist scholar, rejects the tiara claim but has documented the pope using such a title.
Jimmy Akin of Catholic Answers
Catholic Answers
Catholic Answers, based in El Cajon, California, is one of the largest lay-run apostolates of Catholic apologetics and evangelization in the United States. It publishes This Rock, a bimonthly magazine focusing on Catholic evangelism and apologetics...

and additional Catholic sources disagree with the above argument claiming "Vicarius Filii Dei, although it adds up to 666, is not a title of the pope"

Pre-Seventh-day Adventist Historicists who identify the Papacy as the Beast include Reformers such as John Wycliff and Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...

, as well as other prominent figures such as Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...

Idealism

The Idealist interpreter's

Idealism (Christian eschatology)

Idealism in Christian eschatology is an interpretation of the Book of Revelation that sees all of the imagery of the book as non-literal symbols.Jacob Taubes writes that idealist eschatology came about as Renaissance thinkers began to doubt that the Kingdom of...

view of the Beast and all images in the book of Revelation are considered non-literal symbols. The Idealist does not consider these prophecies to have a literal, physical, earthly sense in either the past, present or future. However, in some idealist circles, some have suggested that the Beast represents different social injustices, such as: exploitation of workers, wealth, the elite, commerce, materialism, and imperialism. Various Christian anarchists

Christian anarchism

Christian anarchism is a movement in political theology that combines anarchism and Christianity. It is the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable, the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus...

, such as Jacques Ellul

Jacques Ellul

Jacques Ellul was a French philosopher, law professor, sociologist, lay theologian, and Christian anarchist. He wrote several books about the "technological society" and the interaction between Christianity and politics....

, have associated the State

State (polity)

A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...

and political power

Political power

Political power is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labour, and wealth. There are many ways to obtain possession of such power. At the nation-state level political legitimacy for political power is held by the...

as "the Beast".

Alternative views

Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...

(1875–1947) claimed that he was the Beast prophesied in Revelation and took the name “Το Μέγα θηριον
To Mega Therion
To Mega Therion or Τὸ Μεγα Θηρίον may refer to:* The Beast in the Christian Bible* Aleister Crowley , British religious leaderMusic:* To Mega Therion by band Celtic Frost...

” ("To Mega Therion"), Greek for “The Great Beast”, which adds up to 666 by isopsephy
Isopsephy
Isopsephy is the Greek word for the practice of adding up the number values of the letters in a word to form a single number. The early Greeks used pebbles arranged in patterns to learn arithmetic and geometry....

, the Greek form of gematria
Gematria
Gematria or gimatria is a system of assigning numerical value to a word or phrase, in the belief that words or phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other, or bear some relation to the number itself as it may apply to a person's age, the calendar year, or the like...

.
During the New Deal, some ministers identified the Congress of Industrial Organizations
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...

as a "Sign of the Beast." Outside of black churches, twentieth century evangelism in America tended to regard labor unions as the mark of the Beast, although evangelism originally worked to eliminate class distinctions.
Some identify the Beast with a Super Computer in Brussels, Belgium.; However, author Joe Musser attributes the origin of this urban legend to his 1970 novel Behold, a Pale Horse and to an ad campaign promoting the movie The Rapture which featured the Brussels-based super computer. This ad campaign consisted of make-believe newspapers containing "reports" on various aspects of the movie. Musser speculates that stories subsequently run in an unnamed Pennsylvania newspaper and a 1976 issue of Christian Life magazine were mistakenly based on these ads.
There are a number of sites online that identify the beast as being a revived Islamic Caliphate. By comparing the eschatology of the Bible and the Qu'ran, they claim to see how the eschatology in the Qu'ran fits straight into the eschatology
Eschatology
Eschatology is a part of theology, philosophy, and futurology concerned with what are believed to be the final events in history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world or the World to Come...

in the Bible, if the revived Caliphate is the Beast and the Jesus in the Qu'ran is the False Prophet of the Bible (who "had horns like a lamb, but spake like a dragon".) Moreover, they claim that the historical Caliphate fits the description of the seventh empire and a revived Caliphate would fit the description of the eighth empire that is the seventh empire that was, but then did not exist, and then came back as the eighth empire, as described in the Book of Revelation.
A number of people identify the beast as referring to an indistinct modern-day cartel of banking organisations, sometimes referred to as the "New World Order
New World Order
New World Order, New world order or The New World Order may refer to:*New world order , any period of history evidencing a dramatic change in world political thought and the balance of power...

". The theory extends to the digitisation of money and the possible use of RFID chips in humans as being the "mark of the beast" whereby none may buy or sell, as mentioned in Scripture. This invites a paradox. If the beast were a real, deceitful and sophisticated phenomenon of modern times, which deceives the majority of humanity, it would be within its power to hide its true identity from a public audience via methods such as censorship, propaganda and misinformation, such that an objective discussion of the phenomenon would be impinged.

Preterist views

the Jewish religious system of the first century that conspired with the Roman state to suppress and persecute the early church
a chief administrator of Roman rule in Ephesus
Ephesus
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...

and Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

, i.e., the "henchman" of the Emperor. This is probably the provincial governor (or proconsul
Proconsul
A proconsul was a governor of a province in the Roman Republic appointed for one year by the senate. In modern usage, the title has been used for a person from one country ruling another country or bluntly interfering in another country's internal affairs.-Ancient Rome:In the Roman Republic, a...

) who would have overseen the political and religious operations of the area from his capital in Ephesus
the High Priest of the Provincial Imperial Cult, who would have been a leading citizen from one of the main cities. The imperial cult in Ephesus was set up by Domitian in 89 AD (Ephesus is the location of one of the Seven Churches in Asia to whom the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...

was addressed)

Historicist views

The Islamic prophet Muhammed, according to some medieval Christians, particularly Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
Saracen
Saracen
Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...

s and Antipope
Antipope
An antipope is a person who opposes a legitimately elected or sitting Pope and makes a significantly accepted competing claim to be the Pope, the Bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic Church. At times between the 3rd and mid-15th century, antipopes were typically those supported by a...

s, according to other medieval Christians, particularly Joachim of Fiore
Joachim of Fiore
Joachim of Fiore, also known as Joachim of Flora and in Italian Gioacchino da Fiore , was the founder of the monastic order of San Giovanni in Fiore . He was a mystic, a theologian and an esoterist...
the Papacy (this is the view of some Protestant Reformers, such as Francis Lambert, Heinrich Bullinger
Heinrich Bullinger
Heinrich Bullinger was a Swiss reformer, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli as head of the Zurich church and pastor at Grossmünster...

, and John Foxe
John Foxe
John Foxe was an English historian and martyrologist, the author of what is popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, , an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history but emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the fourteenth century through the...

)
the United States of America (this is the view of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...

). This interpretation was introduced by Adventist pioneer, John Nevins Andrews
John Nevins Andrews
John Nevins Andrews , was a Seventh-day Adventist minister, missionary, writer, editor, and scholar...

.

Beast from the sea

Beast from the earth

Image of the Beast

Mark of the Beast

Fate of the Beast

Preterist view

Historicist view

Idealism

Alternative views

Preterist views

Historicist views

See also